A brush with romanticism
Escape into the world of Romantic artwork, and explore the drama and heroism of romantic paintings.
And this is me...
Can we trust artists to be impartial when portraying themselves, and if not, what do self portraits tell us?
Did the ‘Camera Obscura’ have a role in helping Johannes Vermeer create his fantastic works of art?
Professor Martin Kemp, art historian at Oxford University, believes that paintings such as "The Lacemaker" show features that look very similar to what you would expect to see through the poor quality lens that would have been in use at the time. An example is seen in the highlights that are out of focus where they blur into ‘circles of confusion’.
Jason Brooks is an artist whose own work imitates photography. His view is that Vermeer probably did use a Camera Obscura because his paintings show qualities such as diffused highlights and the perspective.
However, Alex Ruger of the National Gallery disagrees with the notion that Vermeer copied an image produced by a Camera Obscura in his studio. He thinks that whilst Johannes may well have been inspired by the properties of images produced by the camera obscura, he was an artist who had both the talent and ability to work from his imagination.
Listen to Caryn Franklin’s views on Vermeer’s paintings:
Do you think that Vermeer used a camera obscura?
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I definitely think Vermeer did use a camera obscura because of the way I learnt to read his paintings. And certainly the focus, the depth of field, and the quite graphic appearance of the way he used light and shade, indicated to me that he was seeing things photographically.
Does this make him a cheat?
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I don’t think it makes him a cheat at all, I think it makes him a visionary and someone with a very modern approach to imagery. And so he’s a pathfinder as far as I’m concerned, you know all artists work with tools, whether it be brushes, textures of paints or other instruments to apply the paint and this is another tool, this is another way of seeing things. And the fact of the matter is he was an excellent craftsman, his technique and his skill was already well established before he added camera obscura to what he did.
What do you make of the controversy?
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I think the fact that there is controversy around this is interesting because it’s almost as though, well once we know the answer we’ll think differently about the paintings and about his work, and I don’t think there’s any need to. I rather like the fact that we really can’t go back and find out for sure, so there’s a certain amount of guesswork, and everyone then can stand in front of his paintings and have an opinion. And that’s part of the pleasure of art, is we each have a relationship, an individual relationship, with what we see.
What did you discover making the film?
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That’s been one of the enjoyable things about making this film, is it’s taught me to read images differently, and I certainly look at Vermeer’s paintings in a very different way now that I understand the process involved. It’s also made me think about looking at other paintings differently because it allows for the fact that there was a lot more going on in the creation of artwork than perhaps we know about.
Audio help
If you have trouble playing Caryn's responses, you may need to install the latest version of Quicktime. It's a free download.
Regardless of whether Johannes Vermeer used the Camera Obscura it is without doubt that his works are inspirational. The National Gallery in London held an exhibition entitled ‘Vermeer and the Delft school’ in 2001, featuring thirteen paintings by the great man himself accompanied by works by other notable Delft artists, such as De Hooch, Gerard Houckgeest and Leonaert Bramer. The National Gallery has the two paintings as part of its own collection.
Other paintings by Vermeer are held by the National Gallery of Scotland, Kenwood, Hampstead and Buckingham Palace. There are a number of Camera Obscuras around the country, many of which are open to the public.
The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television
The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London
The Iveagh Bequest - Kenwood, Hampstead Lane, Hampstead, London. Tel: 020 8348 1286
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Content last updated: 16/03/2005
